Mine is getting ready much earlier than last year. Pulled my first plant today, 'Early Red' is the variety. Didn't bother drying it as the bulb goes straight to the kitchen and a clove or two will be eaten tonight. Bulb is just under 3 inches with nice sized cloves.
I hate pulling the garlic so early in the season, as it will not get me as far through the year. Up until this week we were still using last year's bulbs for cooking.
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- hendi_alex
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I've got a few plants growing in morning sun only and they still look nice and green. Maybe next year I'll plant about half of the crop in a morning sun only location, that is also sun all day during the winter and early spring before the trees put out their leaves. My full sun plants in the main garden area are now more brown than green. It is not good to leave them in the soil much past the 1/3 brown stage.
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If the tops are still lush and green then the plants should probably stay in the ground. Once about 1/3 of the bottom has turned brown, there is very little if anything to be gained in size by keeping the plants in the ground. On the other hand keeping such plants in the ground can lead to problems.
From my favorite garlic source and info site:
"Many people make a big mistake at this point. They wait too long to harvest. Keeping garlic in the ground beyond a certain point does not result in bigger bulbs, but rather dried out, split and nearly useless ones. When to harvest? When the lower third to half of the leaves have turned brown, but there are still mostly green leaves higher on the plant, it's time to harvest. Others suggest harvesting when the hardneck scapes are standing straight up but before the pods containing the bulbils open up. You can always test dig one or two plants. You should be able to see the shape of the cloves beginning to bulge through the wrapper."
https://store-7d85e.mybigcommerce.com/p ... -Grow.html
From my favorite garlic source and info site:
"Many people make a big mistake at this point. They wait too long to harvest. Keeping garlic in the ground beyond a certain point does not result in bigger bulbs, but rather dried out, split and nearly useless ones. When to harvest? When the lower third to half of the leaves have turned brown, but there are still mostly green leaves higher on the plant, it's time to harvest. Others suggest harvesting when the hardneck scapes are standing straight up but before the pods containing the bulbils open up. You can always test dig one or two plants. You should be able to see the shape of the cloves beginning to bulge through the wrapper."
https://store-7d85e.mybigcommerce.com/p ... -Grow.html
- Tinybu88les8
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I just pulled mine the other day and they don't look anything like yours. I have a tiny garden and its just me and my bf so I only planted 4 bulbs with some spare space I had left. 3 of them only have 4 cloves total and 1 has 5. they arent fully wrapped in paper like yours either. More like each individual clove is wrapped. Did I pull them too soon? This was my first year so I'm still learning.
hendi_alex wrote:If the tops are still lush and green then the plants should probably stay in the ground. Once about 1/3 of the bottom has turned brown, there is very little if anything to be gained in size by keeping the plants in the ground. On the other hand keeping such plants in the ground can lead to problems.
From my favorite garlic source and info site:
"Many people make a big mistake at this point. They wait too long to harvest. Keeping garlic in the ground beyond a certain point does not result in bigger bulbs, but rather dried out, split and nearly useless ones. When to harvest? When the lower third to half of the leaves have turned brown, but there are still mostly green leaves higher on the plant, it's time to harvest. Others suggest harvesting when the hardneck scapes are standing straight up but before the pods containing the bulbils open up. You can always test dig one or two plants. You should be able to see the shape of the cloves beginning to bulge through the wrapper."
https://store-7d85e.mybigcommerce.com/p ... -Grow.html
Thanks for the solid advice. There are so many theories out there on when to harvest garlic that it's hard to know what to believe. This sounds like a pretty good rule to go by.
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I know an oriental lady that grows garlic in the mulch around here trees. It grows very large and looks good. They are growing pretty much in full shade in mulch.
She gave me some garlic sets and I planted them. They had babies but the bulbs are the size of a marble and the cloves are the size of a curnel of corn. I am growing in full sun in compost mixed with sand and dirt.
I am thinking I might pull my garlic up and move it to the front yard in the mulch around the trees.
She lives a few miles from me we are in the same zone what ever zone that is. I am in TN. 37129
She gave me some garlic sets and I planted them. They had babies but the bulbs are the size of a marble and the cloves are the size of a curnel of corn. I am growing in full sun in compost mixed with sand and dirt.
I am thinking I might pull my garlic up and move it to the front yard in the mulch around the trees.
She lives a few miles from me we are in the same zone what ever zone that is. I am in TN. 37129
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri May 21, 2010 11:31 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Interesting. When I grew hardneck I was told to cut the scapes off at that point (and eat them - really tasty) and then leave the bulbs a while longer.hendi_alex wrote:Others suggest harvesting when the hardneck scapes are standing straight up but before the pods containing the bulbils open up.
I used to cut scapes in June and harvest the bulbs in July. This was in the Hudson Valley in NY, though, so I'm sure it's a little different for you southerners.